Itodo said 28 per cent of polling units recorded arrival of materials and personnel as at 7.30a.m., except in Awka North and Awka South Local Government Areas where materials and personnel arrived before 7.30a.m.

“Apparently, as at 10a.m., 75 per cent of the polling units were open, while voting started about 30 minutes later.

“That is disturbing; but as at 12 noon, 92 per cent of polling units were open.

“We asked INEC to extend the deadline from 2p.m to 4p.m to enable people vote,” Itodo said.

The executive director also said there were issues with card readers being unable to authenticate fingerprints, saying the development raised issue of integrity of the exercise.

According to him, it is too premature to make statements on voter turnout.

“We are still studying our data so as to make official statement on that later.”

On his part, Chairman, Partners for Electoral Reform, Mr. Ezenwa Nwagwu, said voting started late, especially in Ogbaru Local Government Area.

Nwagwu said security agents have been civil and professional in their conduct, adding that voters have also behaved themselves.

However, he said there were cases of “vote buying” recorded in some parts of the state.

An observer from the Embassy of Netherlands, Mr. Harry Putker, said his group would make its observations public at a later date, which would include some minor challenges which INEC needed to work on.

Another observer group, the Nigeria Bar Association Election Working Group, told NAN in Onitsha that the exercise began on a good note, as the process started early with arrival of materials.

“All the materials, including ballot boxes, card readers, result sheets are intact and working in good condition,” coordinator of the group, Mr. Adewale Ademola, said.

He also commended the presence of security personnel, saying “everything went orderly and was transparent.” (NAN)